The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1887-01-02

| bOutn 10 Jackson street.
La 1916 built and moved into thu
dwelling Judge Douglsss now occu
pies Just south OF the Gayoso Hotsl
and when John Cubbin was running
mp the walls l put into the cornel
wall on Shelby and Mccall streets ,
bottle OF French brandy and one o.
Madeira wine, then taid to bs ter
years old. ThGt was in 1916, and the
precious fluids are now 6fty years cid
Douglass didn't know this. One day
in May or June, 1S4I, Houston called
on me, 80 | was then the Mikado, OIL
Mayor, OF South Memphis, to say thai
an indian woman and her child
had bsen left at his hotel
the night before under circumstances
suggesting foul play towards thsm
de said that this man who left them,
and whose name l now recollect, W az
on the hotel register as Parks told
him that the Indians were hslf.breeds
and slaves; and that they were for
sale. Houi ton said the woman had
evidently besn vary bsrbarously
irea'ed, though di:inclined to say any.
thing. went over to the hotsl with
him. The woman seemed about so,
the daughter about u years old.
The woman Yves called Aggy and the
daughter Mamie, as they told us. The
woman had sundry cuts and marks
about The head and shouldcrsaud WAS
in evident psin, and from them. After
much coaxing she told us that she
and kar child bod h.a,, ek,1ax F,o,,,
their home near Tableqush, then and
now the capital of ths Cherokee part
Of the Indian Territory west OF Arksn-
SOS She could tpeak E1glish
wei enough to be readily
undeyst Cd, and had gone
there with her Tribe, the CheroEees,
from North Georgia or E ,st Teunes-
ses, some years before. sent for my
family physician, DIR. Louis Sharks,
aud when he came and dressed her
wounds, it seemed to lessen her SUE
picions as to the kirdpess OF the white
race; and next day when the doctor
callt d sgain and dressed her cuts aud
sore, he and Houston and I got her
to tell us her full story.
She and her little daughter lived
near the Arkansas river. and cary one
moraiug Parks and another man had
landed near her cabin in skiff, and
waited in some bushes unit Aggy and
her child should 20 down to a little
cresk or bayou for water. AS soon as
they came the men Sc zed them, stifled
their screams and hurried them to the
skiff, In the bottom of which they
were made to lie down when passing
a town or a plantation. The men
kept the middle of the stream, one
rowing or steering and the other keen.
log guard. Whenever Aggy would
attempt to rise or to give an alarm in
passing a plantation she was beaten
down again, and that treatm ent con-
tiuued all the way do wn the ArksDsss
river. When they got to the Missis-
sippi Parks took the first steamer up
the river and brought his Indiau.ns-
gress to Memphis for sale. Aggy was
50 completely subdued when she was
put upon steamboat that abe consid-
ered it best to say and do nothing, but
to submit to her fate. On learning
all These facts l determined to apply
to Judge Dunlap for writ of baoeas
corpus, and also to have Parks arrested
for false imprisonment. The writs
were easily served, as the Inaims
were Of the Gayoso, and when Parks
came to take them to the negro
mart for ssla he WIS arrested
by the Sheriff and found him
self in trap, for as the otfenss was a
criminal one, he was requ red to give
bond for his appearance at the next
term of the court. Being unsble to
do this, he consented to relinquish all
claim to his stolen property il would
agree 10 let him Skip" This l read.
lily agreed to do, aud the Indians were
5 on out OF that trouble.
Having Obtained their freedom, I
took charge of them, as they know no
one here and we're unacc rstomed to
Town life. In a few months, however,
they bee ime used to our ways, were
always willing to do what they could
In tneir awkward style, and evinCed
gratitude and warm attachment toward
my family. Mamie amused my chill.
dren bv teaching them the Cherokes
words for many things she saw around
her. Squaw-lag ish-teg Vas one Chsr-
oses word, the meaning of which my
older child en- msy PERHAPS yet re-
member. Early ia 1913 Msj. Houa-
Ton again called on me, one night, to
say hat half breed Cherokee named
10. Hildeb an was at the Gayoeo
dotsl; that hs was from Table aah,
The capital of the Cherokee Nanon
west of Arkansas, and that he knew
Agly and Mamie, then living with
my family. At my request, the Maj r
Orougt t Hildebran over, aud Aggy
knew him the moment che saw HIM
The meeting seemed sad for both, ss
I reminded Aggy not only of her pres
ant lone'y condition, but also Of a
ormer loss which, till then, / had
never heard her mention.
As Hlldebran spoke English as
iuently as l did, requested him to
ell us what he knew about Aggy's
ormer troubles. Perhaps ! should
'sy just here that Hildebrau was q
ormer citizen OF Geo'ga, where be
had lived among the whites, got good
,ducation a; country schools and soon
became a leader among his Indian
people. He moved west with them,
md hal held important Offices in the
Cherokee Couutry-pEhsps sheriff
or some time, aud hence became
amilisr with many events con-
le cted with the history of his people
n the West He had heard of the
abduction Of Aggy and Nancy, but was
Unable to do anything for them, as
he tribe had no money. This was his
J atement to Maj. Houston and my
'elf, and explained how he knew
Agsy. He then said that some few
years before Agey was stolen her two
daughters, Betsy and Peggy, bad been
to en- from her house, when they had
rome down to the same bayou for
water. She and little Fanny, then,
9 or Z, had gone to q neigh
BORIS, about mile distant, aud when
hey returned, toward night, they
ound The water buckets neay the
D ,you, but the girls gone. Many
.racks, as Of struggling feet and Of
men who wore boots or heavy shoes,
we're seen, and place where a tkiff